“Chooch hollers on the bench before we go on the field every night. He starts screaming and hollering, cursing a little bit.”

- Charlie Manuel on Carlos Ruiz

Ruiz now leads the Major in batting with a .361 average. And nearly all the Phillies writers had the exact same anecdote for your reading pleasure:

Todd Zolecki, Phillies.com:

Carlos Ruiz emerged from a back room in the Phillies' clubhouse late Tuesday night with a smile on his face.

He came to a stop and leaned against the red countertop in the middle of the room, where a reporter informed him that he is "leading the world" in hitting after going 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs in Tuesday's 5-4 victory over the Pirates at Citizens Bank Park. Ruiz is hitting .361, which leads the big leagues.

The reporter repeated that Ruiz is leading the big leagues in batting, and asked Ruiz if he pinched himself. Ruiz thought about it, pinched his left arm and smiled.

"That's me," he joked.

Jim Salisbury, CSN Philly:

Reporter to Carlos Ruiz after the Phillies’ MVP had three hits to lead a 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night:

“Carlos, you’re leading the world in hitting.”

“Come on,” Ruiz responded.

“You’re leading the world,” the reporter said.

“Let me see,” said the catcher, motioning to the reporter’s notebook.

“Trust me,” the reporter responded.

Ruiz laughed.

“No, I’m serious,” the reporter said. “You’re leading the majors in hitting. Do you have to pinch yourself?”

Ruiz smiled and pinched his left forearm. His eyes brightened.

“That’s me,” he said, grinning ear to ear.

Matt Gelb, Philly.com:

"It's hard to explain," Ruiz said of his torrid season.

The catcher was asked if he had to pinch himself. He squeezed his left arm.

"That's me," Ruiz said.

Differentiation FTW!

Wood:

#ISCHASEUTLEYINTHELINEUPTODAY? It sure looks like.

Last night, in Lehigh Valley, Chase went deep. CSN, covering his return like a presidential inauguration, sent in their ace, Leslie Gudel, for all important Phillies matter. Video of her speaking with Chase and of his home run:

Michael Schwimer was animated last night, and for once it had nothing to do with him pointing in the air at a home run ball:

“Differentiation FTW!”
Anyone else see the irony in that statement? Coming from the guy that continues to make Carter and Richards a part of every story…
@tweet and tweet…That “call me maybe” tweet was awful
Nice to see Utley back in action…Still think the window has closed though…too inconsistent of a team. Every once in a while they give us a little something to hold onto and get excited about then bam lose 6 of 8 or something like that.

I’d rather have a season like this than one in which we are expected to win it all before spring training has even started. I miss the unpredictable Phils like ’06 and ’07 when they had 0 expectations, clinching the division towards the end of the year, not towards the middle of August.